Charging expats for quarantine

[1101]

What about those living overseas for many many years, not paying NZ tax , coming back now & will leave NZ as soon as things get back to normal.
Do they get a free ride off those who have been paying NZ taxes & will continue to do so .

If they stay in NZ, OK far enough, their NZ taxes will help pay for all this mess.
But if they bugger off in 1-2 years ...... why shouldn't we demand they pay back what they cost us ?

[Jayess64]

I haven't been following this thread until now, but there are some issues here that I think need to be borne in mind.

First, and obvious, the returnees being quarantined are not being punished for any wrong-doing. They are returning to NZ for a variety of reasons, but because of the wide-spread pandemic overseas the possibility exists that they may have picked up an infection without necessarily being aware of it before arriving here. Since Covid19 has (so far) been successfully suppressed here, the issue is to prevent it getting loose in the general community, hence the 14-day quarantine. The fact that all the recent Covid19 cases have been found in recent returnees shows how important and successful the compulsory quarantine is.

Before addressing the question of whether the returnees should pay for the expense of their quarantine we should first ask, who benefits from this policy? Being shut up in a hotel, even a luxury hotel, is of no benefit to those in quarantine - they want to get on with their lives. The beneficiaries are us, the "team of 5 million" because we are being protected from a Covid19 outbreak. If the principle of "user pays" is to apply, then it seems fair that the cost should be carried by us, the public. A case for part charging can be made, since if there was no quarantine meals and other living expenses would still need to be paid for. But hitting them with a bill for thousands of dollars ($3000 if Judith Collins has her way) seems unjust and unnecessary.

I would make an exception for anyone silly enough to set out on an overseas holiday at present. In that case, they would be wise to factor an extra cost for the quarantine.

[allblack]

Being shut up in a hotel, even a luxury hotel, is of no benefit to those in quarantine

Bollocks.

It's a means of allowing them back into the country and keeping "the team of 5 million" safe from whatever they may bring with them. Many tests have proved positive from those in quarantine.

If there was no means to quarantine them, then they should not be allowed to return.

As it is for their direct benefit i.e. allows them to return to NZ, they should pay.

[ClarissaBull]

It's a controversial subject, but it's all about politics, they do what they do because people are afraid to say something or at least to question about, 2020 society in a nutshell.

[zqwerty]

Here, in NZ we question everything ClarissaBull, we have individual freedom and democracy.

[John H]

I support forcing the following category of so-called "NZ" citizens to pay an exorbitant fee for their compulsory quarantine, to be carried out in re-opened facilities on Matiu-Somes Island or Quail Island:
Peter Theil and all the other opportunistic Silicon Valley ******s who bought their NZ passport so they could have a bolt hole a long way from the mess they are creating in America.

[wainuitech]

Bloody Hell some think its all a big game.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-time...rs-in-hamilton

Its idiots like these that are the reason some country's are in so much of the brown stuff.

What They should do is once they get them, give them two options.

1. 1st plane back to where they came from / Left to come to NZ - then Banned from returning at least 6 months.
2. Stay in the country for the rest of their time conditions - But under police service locked in a 8X6 Room ( or what ever size it is) with Steel doors - then lets see them complain.

[Paul.Cov]

Bloody Hell some think its all a big game.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-time...rs-in-hamilton

Yeah, I'm bloody livid about these selfish idiots. NZ as a whole sacrificed billions to get rid of the virus, and millions more disappear weekly in order to keep us safe from all these arrivals. People have lost their businesses and their jobs in the process of keeping NZ 'clean', but these yobbos think they can throw all those sacrifices away for their own selfish means.

This totally answers the debate about whether or not people can do home quarantines, instead of in hotels.
The answer is NO HOME Quarantine, as there are a handfull of idiots in every bunch that cannot be trusted, and could jeopardise the whole thing.

But yeah, lock them up. In the coldest, darkest, dampest cell for another 2 weeks. The consequences of breaking quarantine should be clearly explained to these folk before they ever exit customs.

[allblack]

But we need to Be Kind.

[gary67]

But we need to Be Kind.

Just shoot them them, that would be kind to them